Dust-proof garment



Feb. 24, 1910 A B. HERzlG 3,496,572

DUsT-Pnoor GARMENT Filed March 8. 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Invn'for gennaHerr." XM MM MJL/w B. HERzlG Dusar-PROOF @ARMENT Feb. 24.11910 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed latch 8, 1965 fm/801:09' Benfl Herm? Mm Mmw UnitedgStates Patent O 77 Int. Cl. A4141 13,/02, 27/10, 1/06 U.S. Cl. 2-2 1Claim ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE A dust-proof garment including a bodyportion with a hood and arm sleeves and leg sleeves attached thereto.The arm sleeves and leg sleeves each feature the use of an inner sleeveand an outer sleeve, the inner sleeve having a strap formed thereon forattachment to the hand or arm of the wearer, and the outer sleeve beingconcentrically arranged on the inner sleeve. The arrangement of thesesleeves is such that the glove and shoe worn by the wearer of thegarment can extend between the inner and outer sleeves in order toprovide a labyrinth closure which prevents the passage of dusttherethrough.

The present invention is related to the art of industrial protection andmore particularly, it refers to a novel impervious dust-proof garmentwhich provides full protection to the user and does not impede hismovements at all.

Due to inadequate protection provided in industries in which dust ishandled, mainly in those industries which handle dust containingtoxicants of high power, such as in the manufacture, compounding andmixing of insecticides and fungicides with inert vehicles, hereinbeforemany thousands of deaths have been statistically recorded due to theinadequate furnishing to lworkers of a suitable garment which willprevent contamination of his body by the dusts which pervades thesurrounding atmosphere.

Some attempts have been effected in order to remedy the above mentionedsituation, but the latter have been practically fruitless, because ofthe highly penetrating nature of the fine dust, which causes penetrationthereof through all portions of the commonly used garments, to enterinto contact with the body of the user, even if the user is wearing avery heavy suit or garment. In effect, hereinbefore, the above problemcould not be solved by the provision of garments, even those in whichelastic closures were used for the sleeves for the arms and for thelegs, because in spite of said closures the protection was not verygood, and dust could penetrate with the air into the uniforms orgarments, resulting in contamination of the body with dusts whichsometimes are highly toxic. Also, this type of conventional garmentsdoes not remedy the problem that the dust will very easily penetrate toget on the hands, even in the presence of gloves joined to the rest ofthe garment. n

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a garmentwhich will be completely impervious and which will not allow entrance ofdust contaminating the air and at the same time, such that it will notpreclude or impede the movements of the user. I It is another object ofthe present invention to provide a garment of the above mentionedcharacter, which will have a double sleeve both on the arms and on thelegs,

fr' 3,496,572 ce Patented Feb. 24, 1970 and which will work incombination with gloves and shoes entering an intermediate positionbetween said double sleeves, to provide a labyrinth substantially sealedagainst dust entrance.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art, while still others will directlyappear in the following specification of one of the preferredembodiments of the invention, taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the double sleeve garment of thepresent invention, which is illustrated without the user, to give aclear idea of the manner in which the several parts of the abovementioned garment are sealed;

FIG, 2 is a detailed view of the arm sleeve and the glove, the latterbeing illustrated by dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is a partially diagrammatic view of the double sleeves used forthe legs, working in combination with a shoe adopting an intermediateand sandwiched position between both sleeves.

Having now more particular reference to the drawings, there is shown agarment according to the present invention, which comprises a main body10, which can have one or more pockets 18, and which is operable andcloseable along a vertical extent thereof downwardly from collar 12 bymeans of a dust-proof closing means such as zipper 11.

The body portion of the garment or uniform of the present invention, isended at its top, by means of a straight and cylindrical collar 12,lwhich is closed by means of a suitable button at the front of thegarment, and provided also with a strap to be placed at the waist of theuser, designated by means of the reference character 13 in FIG. l of thedrawings, and which is fastened to the uniform or garment by means of abutton at the front portion thereof, passing through a buttonhole openedat the intermediate portion of the above mentioned belt, said belt 13having at each of its ends a suitable buttonhole to be held at the backportion of the garment, by means of a button provided for the purpose insaid position.

The garment includes a sleeve means for enclosing each arm and leg of awearer thereof from the wrist or ankle, respectively, all the way up towhere the arms and legs connect with the trunk portion of a personsbody. The arm sleeve means comprises an inner sleeve 13 which ex* tendsthe full length of a persons arm from the shoulder up to the wrist, theforearm portion of said inner sleeve being enclosed by an outer sleeve14 circumferentially joined to the inner sleeve by means such asstitching 30 at a substantial distance from the open end of inner sleeve13. The open end of outer sleeve 14 comprises an elastic means 15 for apurpose to be described hereafter.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2 of the drawings, theinner sleeve 13 extends under the outer sleeve 14, concentricallythereof, and reaches to the wrist, being provided at this end with astrap 16 which is held between the thumb and the palm of the hand of theuser, as clearly illustrated in said figure, and this portion of thegarment is adapted to cooperate with a glove 26 having a Lwrist portionor gauntlet, which glove should completely cover the hand and the wristportion 31 0f which penetrates under the sleeve 14, and over'the sleeve13, thereby forming a labyrinth through which it is prac- 3 ticallyimpossible for the dust to penetrate into the garment.

As it can be seen, the dust is primarily stopped by the elastic closure15, which tightens around the wrist portion of a glove 26, andfurthermore the dust is impeded by relatively long and circuitous pathdened between glove 26 and outer sleeve 14 and then back between glove26 and inner sleeve 13, travel of dust along this path being practicallyimpossible.

At the lower end of the garment, as clearly seen in FIG. 1, a pair ofsleeve means for the legs are provided which include inner sleeves 17which extend from the ankle all the way up to where the leg joins thetrunk of a persons body. The inner sleeves 17 are enclosed for asubstantial extent of the length thereof from the ankle opening by outersleeves 19 joined to the inner sleeve by circumferential stitching 29.The lower or open end of outer sleeves 19 include an elastic closuremeans 20. The inner leg sleeve 17 is provided at its lof-'ver end with astrap 21, similar to the strap 16 as above described, and which is heldby the foot of the user, surrounding it in a place where it will notbother the user when walking. The lclosure of the ends of the garmetcorresponding to the legs, is achieved by the introduction of a shoe 27,which upper portion 28 is arranged on the inner sleeve 17, firmlytightened lby means of its conventional suitable cord, and within theouter sleeve 19, which is closed by means of an elastic portion 20therearound, thereby forming a completely impervious closure, providinga labyrinth, similar to the labyrinth provided by the closure of thesleeve for the arm as above described.

The garment of the present invention is also provided with a hood 23,arranged all around the head or" the user, and which is held by means ofa cylindrical collar 12 of the body portion 10, which encircles a skirtportion of the hood 23 which extends down -around the wearers neck andhangs upon the wearers shoulders over the chest and back as is shown at24. Hood 23 includes a window or opening 25 in order to only expose theeyes, the nose and the mouth of the user. This opening 25 is covered, asit is obvious, by means of a mask, spectacles and other conventionalaccessories which are used in this type of work in the dust handlingindustries, whereby all the surface of the face will be duly protectedagainst contamination by the above mentioned dusts.

While the illustrative embodiment described in the above paragraphs inconnection with the accompanying drawings shows a uniform or garmentprovided With a reasonable amount of pockets 18, it is to be noted thatit is desirable and convenient to build a garment with the fewestpossible number of pockets both on the upper portion of the body and onthe lowest portion thereof, in order to avoid powder accumulations inthese receptacles. The above can soive the problem derived from the factthat the wearer of said garment sometimes deposits in his pocketscertain objects which can be contaminated, with the consequent danger tothe health of the worker. For instance, and very specially, when hekeeps food, cigarets and handkerchieves, inasmuch as by avoiding suchpossibility, the danger of incurring in contamination and of courseintoxication, can be avoided,

such as it is necessary in the insecticide industry, inasl much asaccording to the bibliographic data of toxicologists of worldwide farne,this type of products can effect its action even after many years fromthe exposure, by which reason it is noticed that there is anextraordinary danger which must be avoided. The only two pockets whichare recommended for the garment of thepresent invention, are those ofthe back portion of the garment, on the hips, in order to use them todeposit two different types of rubber gloves, which `are generally usedin this type of industries at the Working place.

However, it must be stated that the above is a nonessential aspect ofthe present invention, Which is primarily devoted to provide a garmentby means of which penetration of dust can be completely avoided to enterinto contact with the skin of the wearer, because it is Well known that,for instance, the technical insecticides and fungicides commerciallyused at present, are absorbed through the pores of the skin and are xedby the fat thereof, which causes dangerous intoxications which in agreat number of cases have also caused death if the worker has not beenduly protected.

In view of the above, it can be seen that a novel garment has beenprovided which completely avoids contamination of the surface of theskin of the ibody, head, hands and feet of the wearer, by dust which canbe highly dangerous to the health, and therefore a considerable advancehas been achieved in this eld of industrial protectic-n.

For instance, strips or bands 22 can be arranged on the ankle portion ofthe garment, in order to aid in closing the lower portion thereof, whichcan be the most susceptible to dust entrance, and these strips which areillustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, 'by reference character 22 arefastened by means of one or more buttons 32, arranged at suitabledistances to achieve a higher or lesser tightening of said strips.

What is claimed is:

1. A dust-proof garment adapted to be worn in conjunction with gloveshaving a gauntlet portion, with shoes having a high ankle encirclingportion, and with a face mask means whereby, when so worn, said garmenttogether with such shoes, gloves, and mask means completely covers thewearers body and encloses same against any part thereof coming intocontact with ambient dust, said garment comprising a body portion forcovering the trunk portion of a persons body, a neck encircling collar,a head covering hood connected to said collar for completely enclosing apersons head and neck and including a front opening formed therein foreX- posing the eyes, mouth, and nose, said opening being adapted to beperipherally sealed by a mask means, respective arm and leg sleeve meansfor covering each arm and leg of a wearer, each one of said arm and legsleeve means comprising an inner sleeve attached at one end thereof tosaid body portion and extending therefrom, each inner sleeve having anopen outer end and an outer sleeve enclosing a substantial extent of thelength of said inner sleeve from said open end to a point spacedtherefrom, and being circumferentially secured to said inner sleeve atsaid point, said outer sleeve having an elastic open end adapted tosnugly t about an ankle or wrist, said inner and outer sleeves definingan interface therebetween which is accessible from exteriorly of saidopen ends through resilient yielding of said outer sleeve end, saidinterface of said leg sleeve means being adapted to accommodate theankle portion of high ankle shoes and said interface of said leg sleevemeans being adapted to accommodate the gauntlet portion of gloves,whereby with said sleeve means being employed together with such glovesand shoes the only available passage for ambient dust to enter into saidinner sleeve necessarily entails movement of such dust in one directionfrom atmosphere and along the interface between said outer sleeve andsaid glove gauntlet or shoe ankle portion to the end of said gauntlet orankle portion and then movement of said dust in the opposite directionalong the interface between said inner sleeve and said gauntlet or ankleportion, said hood including a skirt portion for extending along awearers neck beneath said collar, said collar comprising separableopposite end means releasably securable together so as to snugly tightensaid collar about said hood skirt when worn by a person, said bodyportion including a dust-proof closing and opening means extendingdownwardly along a vertical extent thereof from said collar so as topermit the garment to be easily placed upon and removed from a personsbody, and a loop member extending from said inner sleeve in alongitudinal direction away from said open end of said inner sleeve theloop member on said arm sleeves being adapted to be gripped in a personspalm, and the loop member on said leg sleeves being adapted to t arounda persons shoe from the inner to the outer side of the ankle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,077,177 10/1913 Vagas 2-842,133,907 10/1938 Stanhouse 2-84 2,500,982 3/1950 Fligel 2-84 507,44610/ 1893 Van Oostrum 2-82 1,642,670 9/1927 Davis et al. 2-82 2,649,5838/ 1953 Schaeifer 2 2 2,994,089 8/ 1961 Ferguson et al. 2-81 FOREIGNPATENTS 287,546 5/ 1928 Great Britain. 866,848 5/1961 Great Britain.

U.S. C1. X.R.

